Chapter 24 #2
Unable to resist the upbeat partygoers, I joined in, immersed in the bright glow my wife emanated.
Her constant giggles and swigs of homemade wine triggered red flags.
She’d drunk way too much, and if she refused to slow down, I’d need to rush her to the emergency to pump her stomach.
I extracted the cup from her hand and helped her to walk to her father and bid him goodnight.
“We had so much fun, Papa.” She hugged him, her limbs floppy.
I nodded reassurance at Gino’s panicked expression. “I’ll get her home.”
He kissed his daughter’s cheek. “Thank you, Enzo.”
Gemma staggered out of the yard. Halfway down the driveway, I’d lost patience and carried her to the car. She giggled and belted out the chorus to the song which had long passed, her hair swaying in the breeze.
“Okay, Gemma. Calm down.” I slid her into the passenger seat, careful not to shut the door on any floppy limbs.
The rumble of starting engines echoed in the night, and headlights flooded the street.
I waved to my guards, signaling our readiness to leave.
She slept on the drive back, but stirred when we parked in the driveway.
I ran to the passenger side and drew her into my arms. The house lay quiet this late, yet the staff left the hallway light on for our return.
We ascended the stairs, and her soft lips kissed a trail along my jaw. A guttural sound vibrated my throat.
“Gemma,” I uttered, my voice barely a reprimand. “Stop.” Inside her room, I braced her on her unstable feet, and she jerked at my shirt and unfastened the top button. “What do you think you’re doing?” Even to my own ears, I failed at sounding offended since pent up need exuded from my voice.
“What does it look like?” Down to the last button, she stripped off my black shirt and spanned her hands along my chest, running her fingers between the hairs. “Take me, Enzo.” She kissed my jaw again, and I let out another animalistic groan.
I snatched her shoulders, holding her at arm’s length. “Trust you to throw yourself at me when you’re drunk.”
“Drunk schmunk !” She waved a limp, flippant hand. “I want you.” Her pointed finger jabbed my cheek. “Don’t deny you want me, too,” her speech slurred. Her lips parted for a kiss, the kiss I’d hungered for since our first one hours ago, and to my complete horror, I steered my lips away.
She huffed an incredulous breath. “Come on, Enzo, you said you wouldn’t touch me unless I asked… I’m asking.”
“Don’t tempt me, woman.” My fault for not prohibiting the third sample cup Gino’s cousin offered. “I’m taking you to bed.”
She beamed and bit her lip.
I compressed my own into a thin line. Those plump lips threw wild scenarios at my imagination. Wrong word choice since she now assumed we’d have sex, so I helped clarify. “To sleep .”
She pouted, slapping her hands on her hips. “I can’t believe you’re rejecting me.”
“I’m not taking advantage of you in this state.” I swooped her into my arms and laid her on the mattress. “A husband is meant to honor his wife.”
She sat up in bed and batted her pretty lashes. “You’ve been into my Bible.”
I shrugged, not denying I read her marriage devotional. “I may have skimmed it. My point is, if I take you tonight, you’ll hate me tomorrow.” I cupped her jaw. “Next time you throw yourself at me, make sure you’re sober. Now, if you’ll excuse me, a cold shower awaits.”
Missing my sarcasm, she poked my bicep and curled into her pillow. “You’re a... a... chicken,” she shot out the butchered insult, clearly the best her drunken mind could muster.
I paused from getting up from the bed. “I’m a what?”
“Yes.” Her eyes crisscrossed at her pointed finger. “A chicken.” She poked again and shut her eyes, the snug cushion subduing her. “ Buck, buck, ” her mockery grew fainter as she mimicked a chicken. “ Buck .” With her final whisper, she sank into the pillow, unconscious.
“I’m not chicken.” I kept my voice low, tracing my hand along her cheek. Her breathing grew even, a tell she missed every word I spoke. “I’m putting your needs before my own.” I kissed her forehead and left.
After a necessary cold shower, I ambled to the kitchen for a drink. The lights flicked on. Carina hovered in the doorway, her black robe tied at her waist.
“Where have you been?” She tapped her foot in tune with her impatience.
I snickered and slung back the glass. “I’m not some teenager, Carina. You didn’t have to wait up for me.” I deposited the empty cup in the sink and plodded to the doorway.
Carina blocked my exit. “We need to talk.”
I rubbed a hand down my tired face. “Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”
“No, it cannot.” Her stubbornness radiated off her, solid as a brick wall.
The sooner I concluded this discussion, the faster I’d collapse into bed. “Fine. What’s so urgent, it can’t wait until morning?”
She tilted her chin, her usual silent tell whenever she won her way. “Tommaso contacted Nicolo De Luca to negotiate peace.”
Nicolo De Luca? My fists clamped by my sides. At last, good news. If De Luca settled on a truce, we’d not have to watch our backs each time we left the villa. “And how’d he go?”
“They are willing to agree.” Her lips thinned, and something in my gut warned I wouldn’t like where this was going. “Under one condition.”
If they expect me to do their dirty work for them, they could forget it. “Which is?”
“They want you, Enzo. They want you to marry Vito’s niece.” Her expression was cold, unyielding as she dropped the bomb.
Marry a De Luca? My skin crawled. No, there had to be another way. “But I’m already married.”
Carina pursed her lips, her temper getting the best of her, but her gaze was cold.
“Your marriage to Gemma is temporary… it was always meant to be. This marriage to the De Luca woman will be for good. We’ll roam Sicily without having to fear for our lives.
You forget, Enzo, I always tie up loose ends.
That priest understood perfectly well your marriage to Gemma was never to be recorded. ”
I stumbled back, as if she’d physically struck me. “Forget it.” Even if our marriage wasn’t recognized by the church, Gemma was still legally my wife.
Carina grappled my arm. “What are you saying? For the last twenty-three years, we’ve lived with a target on our backs.
Not our backs alone, but Lucio’s, my brother and his entire household, too.
” She jostled me hard enough to hurt the limb, her fingers digging into my arm.
“Don’t forget you are the one who caused this mess when you killed Vito all those years ago.
.. a debt that has always been yours to repay.
” Her gaze hardened, a protective intensity replacing any other emotion.
My jaw clenched, teeth grinding with a force capable of shattering them. “He aimed his gun at me, a child! What should I have done? Let him kill me after I believed he killed you.”
Carina pinned me with a glare. “You dragged us into this mess. Now you have to be the one to get us out.”
I flung her hand off me and turned my back on her. “I will not marry some De Luca bride.”
“She’s not a De Luca by blood. Bianca is the adopted daughter of Bernado De Luca, Nicolo’s uncle, the same man Lucio shot dead when he helped you rescue Gemma.
” She mocked a laugh. “Do you really see yourselves living a blissful life?” Carina scooted in close to my back, making sure I heard her.
“They kidnapped the girl. She spent weeks recovering from a gun wound. Life will always be like this, with the threat of death hanging above your heads, her head. As long as this war continues, you will risk losing her.” Her hand nestled on my shoulder.
“And deny all you want, but I see the way you look at her. If you care for this girl,” Carina’s voice was dangerously soft, “you’ll divorce her and do what’s right by your family. ”
Was I being selfish? God, I hoped not. Gemma had a right to a life free of danger, a right I was jeopardizing every day.
But to let her go, to give her the chance to find someone else?
Unbearable. Maybe I could convince myself it was for the best, that marrying some De Luca woman would end the war and guarantee her safety.
But deep down, I knew the truth. I didn’t want to lose her.
I couldn’t. So I’d find another way, a way to protect her, even if it meant descending further into the darkness.
I’d risk everything to keep her safe, to keep her with me, because without her, what was the point of anything?